Page 45 of Falcon's Prey

I closed my eyes tighter as tears wanted to spring free.

“…What was so freely given?” Silas spread my legs with his, and he plunged into me.

It burned.

My body was not ready for his penetration. Pain spread through my sex and my lower stomach. I wanted him gone, but he was right. These were my sins, and now I was paying for it. I closed my eyes tightly, thinking of better and happier days. The funny part was that I didn’t have any of those. I didn’t have happy memories with my mother because she was dead. My father had never been in my life. His empire was more important than his daughter. And the one person who said they loved me was—I couldn’t think the word. It made me feel dirty, and it wasn’t true. Not when I’d wanted it in the first place.

My pussy throbbed in pain by the time Silas grunted in pleasure. I held my tears at bay and didn’t make a sound as I heard him zip his jeans up.

“Fuck who you want, Ember. Just know that at the end of the day, I still get you. With or without your cooperation. Tell anyone and that video will make news.”

When he walked away, I stayed in the same position for about twenty minutes, telling myself it was my fault.

Our bodies can handle almost anything, and mine had. Silas had turned me into what I was today. I adapted the only way I knew how. Mentally, I hated what he did to me, but physically I’d learned to like it. As humans, we wanted to survive, to cope, and it didn’t matter what kind of depraved things you did, telling yourself it was normal. My body was forced to like the pain.

After all, it wasn’t rape if you got off on it, right?

My hands wrappedtight against the steering wheel as I drove to the location Ember had sent me. This was what I’d wanted since the beginning: not to have to play babysitter. But now that I had it, I missed her smart-ass fucking mouth. That day in the control room, I almost snapped and gave in. Hell, before she came in, I was ready to jack off to the footage of her touching herself. Ember in the back seat of the Maybach fingering herself was one of the hottest things I’d ever seen.

Which brought me to my shit mood because she put the partition up, obscuring my view. Since I had been in her employment, I had done nothing but humiliate her and reject her advances, so I didn’t see why this time had to be any different. If anything, she seemed to get off on them. The more I hurt her, the more she pushed back at me.

Ember wasn’t beautiful like a flower; she was beautiful like flames of a fire. Something that looked stunning, but you knew it was dangerous to touch. Inviting enough to want to get close to the warmth, but once you were close, hot enough to burn. And lately, I was itching for it.

The GPS took me to a warehouse in the trendy part of town. Before I was fully parked, Ember was opening her door.

“Hey.” I pulled at her arm. “You can’t walk out like that.”

“Let me go.”

I did, only because she looked alarmed, scanning the streets. Something wasn’t right, and I cared that I was bothered by it. Once inside the warehouse, I realized it was some sort of fashion warehouse. There were clothes everywhere, but it wasn’t laid out like a store.

“Miss Remington.” A tall blonde with more plastic to her than Barbie appeared. She smiled brightly at Ember and then gave me an appreciative look that I ignored. “We are honored you chose us to dress you for tonight’s gala.”

“I heard you have the most exquisite black silk dress,” Ember purred.

Plastic Barbie smiled and led Ember away from the entrance, and I followed. They took us to the top part of the building, where the whole wall was floor-to-ceiling windows.

“Please take a seat,” Plastic Barbie told me as she grabbed me by my arm and led me to a couch. I sat on the fancy chair, waiting while they offered me something to drink.

“Water’s fine,” I replied, dismissing the girl who had come up to me.

When the chick came back, she handed me the water but stayed. Her eyes trailed over my body valiantly. I raised an eyebrow at her.

“You know…” she said, her hand coming to my arm. “…if you ever want arealwoman…”

I stopped listening to her talk. The comment pissed me off. Sure she had more tits and ass than Ember, but she wouldn’t even come close to satisfying me. Before I could respond, Ember walked out of the room as Plastic Barbie carried a black bag behind her. Ember’s eyes went to me, then to where the chick in front of me touched me. I bit my lips when I saw anger in them, but just as quickly, she masked it.

“Let’s go,” she said as she passed me.

“My offer stands,” the chick said.

I got up, putting me chest to chest with the chick in front of me. “Would you do anything I want?”

Her breathy “yes” was instant.

“I think I’d get more thrill from a blow-up doll than you.” Then I pushed past her and went after Ember.

Ember was about to open the door when I threw my hand over her shoulder. “Where to next?”

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